Cantor Fitzgerald Issues Positive Forecast for Block (NYSE:XYZ) Stock Price

Block (NYSE:XYZ) had its price objective upped by Cantor Fitzgerald from $78.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the technology company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on XYZ. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of Block in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Block from $90.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Block from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $93.00 in a report on Friday, February 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised shares of Block from a “hold” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Block from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Block presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.67.

Block Price Performance

Block stock opened at $71.82 on Tuesday. Block has a 52 week low of $44.27 and a 52 week high of $82.50. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $60.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $64.64. The company has a quick ratio of 2.20, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26. The stock has a market cap of $43.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.20, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 2.61.

Block (NYSE:XYZ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The technology company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.39. Block had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 6.66%. The firm had revenue of $6.25 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. Block’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Block will post 2.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Block news, insider Brian Grassadonia sold 1,769 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.25, for a total transaction of $106,582.25. Following the sale, the insider owned 500,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,170,970.75. The trade was a 0.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Owen Britton Jennings sold 3,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.41, for a total transaction of $225,422.55. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 231,262 shares in the company, valued at $14,664,323.42. The trade was a 1.51% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 15,806 shares of company stock worth $857,468 in the last ninety days. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Block

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of XYZ. City Holding Co. bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Block by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 443 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Quent Capital LLC bought a new stake in Block during the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Institutional investors own 70.44% of the company’s stock.

Block Company Profile

Block (NYSE:XYZ) is a financial technology company that builds products and services to facilitate electronic payments, commerce, and consumer finance. Its principal business lines include a seller-focused ecosystem that provides point-of-sale hardware and software, payment processing, invoicing, payroll and lending services, and a consumer-facing platform that offers peer-to-peer payments, banking-like features, and investing. Block’s portfolio also encompasses music streaming and buy-now-pay-later capabilities through businesses acquired to broaden its reach beyond core payments.

The company was founded as Square in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey and later rebranded to Block to reflect a diversified set of businesses across payments, consumer finance, and emerging technologies.